


I've killed a man for you, honey

by orphan_account



Series: The best of us can find happiness in misery [1]
Category: Fall Out Boy, Melanie Martinez (Musician), My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexual Tyler Joseph, But like its v cute, Gay, Gay Josh, M/M, Mutant Josh Dun, Mutant Tyler Joseph, Mutants, No Smut, Past Child Abuse, Platonic Soulmates, Prison AU, Queerplatonic Relationships, Queerplatonic peterick, Serial Killer Tyler, Serial Killers, Soulmates, mutant AU, mutant specific prison, serial killer au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-24 18:19:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10747212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tyler Joseph was one of the, if not the, most wanted serial killers in the world. He was famous for the markings left on his victims corpses, and for not getting caught.Until he gets the chance to take revenge on someone that hurt his Soulmate.





	1. The arrest

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me your opinion on this fic?

The night was dark and one would struggle to see the stars in the sky due to the pollution in the air. It was unsurprisingly busy for 3am on a Saturday, drunks roamed the streets obnoxiously and practically screamed at the world to fight them before being dragged home by their sober friend. The natural chaos on the street made what he was about to do that much easier. His eyes locked on his target, he didn't really know who his target was but he knew that he had hurt his Soulmate in the past and that was enough for him to take revenge, before the iris turned a beautiful red, matching the beanie that was pulled low over his head. He knew that it was a bad idea going through with his plan when it was so busy, but he didn't care - that was the only moment where he would be able to get his revenge.

Tyler took a deep breath before letting a thin, smoke-like, substance crawl up his neck and wrists, leaving them completely black after it faded away. His cold, calculating, gaze once again focused on the man that dared to break his Soulmates heart before his eyes stared at his victims throat. Even from across the street Tyler could see the boys face loose colour as he struggled to breathe, black marks that where almost identical to Tyler's climbing up his neck and hands. He didn't have long to live.

The sirens could already be heard approaching the scene of the crime and civilians screamed in terror as the man continued to die before their eyes. Tyler should've ran when he heard the sirens, but he didn't. He wanted to see the vile human die. As soon as he saw the flashes of blue and red, Tyler knew it was over, he would be arrested and sent to a high-security prison for 'freaks' like him. He found that he didn't really care, the joy from finally making his plan a reality and knowing that the man - the thing - that had hurt the most important person in the world, prevented him from feeling the fear that most people would. Of course, Tyler wasn't most people, he was one of the most wanted murderers in the United States and everyone had heard of the killer that left unnatural black marks on his victims. Now they had a face to put to the name.

He knew what was going to happen, it would be stupid of him to try and get away from the police and whilst he was fast there was no way he could outrun police cars. The black slowly faded from his skin and his eyes turned back to a dark brown colour as two officers slowly approached him. He let them handcuff him and willingly followed them into the car, knowing it would be better if he didn't resist. People seemed to think that any once of resistance from people like him was a threat, and the police wouldn't hold back after seeing what he was. So he didn't put up a fight or try to run, despite knowing that he could kill these two officers easily - being on the run didn't sound particularly nice to Tyler.

He was immediately drove to the police station, where he was stripped of his belongings and forced into a plain orange jumpsuit, 'mutant' printed across the front pocket. He stayed at the stations for hours, he wasn't sure of the exact time as the officers refused to let him so much as glance at a clock, before they led him down a hallway - the chains connected to his feet and wrists hitting the floor with loud clinks - and onto a helicopter with four armed men on it. Tyler thought that was over-kill, they had already placed a band around his wrist that prevented him from using his powers and he was chained at the wrists and ankles, what was he going to do? Smack them in the face with the excess chain?

He did not voice his opinion, knowing that it would probably be met with violence as the guards eyes the branding on his jumpsuit. Tyler wasn't scared by the intense gaze that he was under, instead he relaxed into his seat on the helicopter and waited for the pilot to start flying the thing. It didn't take long, the officers around him obviously getting irritated with the fact that they hadn't moved in ten minutes.

The helicopter ride was surprisingly long, not that Tyler was complaining - it gave him time to catch up on sleep - however all the armed officers did was complain about the length of the trip. He was glad to finally arrive at the prison for 'genetically enhanced people', or 'mutants' as the general population called them.

The prison looked disgusting, the walls where dirty and old and the area surrounding the building was full of dead plants and yellowing grass. The roof looked about ready to cave in, despite being perfectly safe. It looked gloomy, and abandoned - like it was out of a horror movie. Tyler wondered how the place was still being used. It didn't take long to figure out that it was because no one cared about the safety of mutants, the more that died the merrier.

He was led inside by a stern looking woman. The inside didn't look any better than the outside, in fact Tyler would go as far as to say that it looked worse. The bricks where crumbling from old age and only three of the four lights where lit. The floor looked wet, as if the rain had came right through the roof and soaked everything, and the whole building reeked of dampness. The stern lady led him to a cell - it was honestly a cage, bars on every side of the 'cell' - before turning around to leave the wing that was now where he lived.

"Welcome, Prisoner 782001."


	2. The meeting

The wing where his cell was located was dark and gloomy, which was fitting as it matched to moods of everyone there. The only source of light where the three, dull, lights that hung in the walkway between the cells - once again the forth light was out - and the small green lights on everyone's power-surpressing bands. His cell smelt faintly of dampness and water, but Tyler couldn't be sure where the scent was coming from. He didn't care, knowing where it was wouldn't make it go away. The disgusting scent of blood and a decaying corpse, combined with the scent of dampness, made him slightly sick yet he found it fitting.

Of course somewhere like that wouldn't smell nice, it matched the decaying walls around him perfectly. He assumed that it also matched the weather outside - having bright weather in a place like this didn't work in Tyler's mind, so he always pictured gloomy clouds and dark skys without rain. Having no windows in the wing helped.

His chains had been semi-removed so now the didn't connect his ankles and wrists together by a long, metal, link. That was something Tyler was grateful for, the sound of the chains hitting the floor whenever he moved gave him a headache. His ankles where free, so he could walk around his small cell, but his wrists where still tied together. It was a minor inconvenience, but it wouldn't interfere with much.

He heard a small whimper come from the cell beside his, and when he tuned are out he found the origen of the sound. It was a man, Tyler assumed he was a year or so older than himself, with dirty brown hair so dark that was almost black. His eyes where a brown, much like Tyler's own yet they looked simultaneously Brimington with life and energy yet cold and empty.

It sent a shiver up his spine, but it wasn't worse that the bruise that covered the left side of the man's face.

"Hello," Tyler said, walking towards the other inmate. The inmate flinched away and Tyler stopped moving, he stood in place before sitting on the floor so as to be eye level with the man that was curled into a ball.

"H-hi," the man said, picking at the skin around his fingernails. He looked up at to Tyler momentarily before staring intensely at the floor.

"I'm Tyler, who are you?" Rolling his shoulders so that he looked smaller, and less threatening, Tyler decided to risk moving towards the bars. He wanted to ask about the bruise, about how he got it but he knew that his questions, and prying, wouldn't be taken gratefully from his own experiences with overly noisey people.

"Brendon..." the other man, Brendon, said with a small smile. Tyler assumed he was unused to having people talk to him like he was human.

"Nice to meet you," Tyler said before extending his arm so that his hand was known the to her side of the bars, the cuffs clicked against the metal separating the two men, and smiled when Brendon shook it.

The man was much more open to conversation after that, and once he figured out that Tyler wouldn't hurt him Brendon sat beside the bars and occasionally poked Tyler when he though that Tyler wasn't paying attention. Tyler found that he enjoyed talking to Brendon, the man was funny and had an interesting life before he was arrested a few moths after loosing control of his mutation and burning down his appartment complex. It killed everyone in it, including Brendon's boyfriend... his soulmate.

Tyler felt sorry for Brendon. He never wanted to know what it felt like to loose a soulmate, he couldn't imagine what other would feel like if he lost his. The fact that Brendon had met, and was in a relationship, with his made it worse on the man.

He wanted to tell Brendon how sorry he was, how he didn't deserve to loose his most important person in the world, but he didn't. "So what do you do here for fun?" he asked instead, "and how to you survive when it smells like someone left a corpse to rot in here?"

"Oh, we just talk amongst ourselves... form alliances for when the Officers decided to make us fight for their amusement..." He trailed off, picking at the skin around his nails again and Tyler could've swore that one off his fingers started bleeding, "as for the smell, well, you get used to it."

The noise stopped as soon as a loud 'click' was heard, echoing around the silent wing, as the metal door clicked open. A man was being led down the hallway, neither his wrists nor his ankles where chained or cuffed and Tyler was slightly jealous. His cell door was opened and before he knew what was happening to man with the bright red hair was being harshly shoved into his cell and Tyler was being dragged by the collar of his jumpsuit towards the door. The guard grabbed Tyler's wrists hard enough that his grip would leave bruises, before removing his handcuffs and pushing him to the floor. He flinched a little when he landed on something odly sharp - it was a stone that the previous inmate had smuggled into the cell for some reason - knowing it was going the bruise, much like his wrists would.

"Play nice, Joseph," the guard said before walking away from the two inmates, leaving Tyler and - who Tyler assumed was - his cellmate alone together.

The noise of inmates taking, or crying, filled the wing once again as soon as the door clicked shit behind the officer. It gave him a slight headache due to the sudden shift in volume, but he didn't complain. The pain gave him something to focus on apart from the inmate in his cell and the bruise that covered his friends face, and from what Tyler knew caused it.

"Hey, my names Tyler Joseph. You?" Tyler said nervously, he wasn't very good at talking to people.

"Salutations, my names Josh Dun," the red haired boy said with his thousand watt smile and Tyler swore he could hear his heart tear.

It was him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You seemed to like the last chapter so I hope this one doesn't disappoint.


	3. The realisation

It only occurred to Tyler at that moment of time that Josh had no idea who he was. You see, Soulmates don't work the way that everyone thinks they do, its so much worse than that yet in a twisted way its better, too. It isn't love at first sight, or at first meeting or whatever you call it, for both of them. Only one of the two halves - for that's what Soulmates where, the other half of each other - where aware of the others existence since birth, constantly knowing when their Soulmate was in pain, or when they where happy or sad, and it was torture because they couldn't do anything to help their Soulmate. The other lived a life of bliss. Until of course the two met and the second half (the one that lived so peacefully unaware of their other parts torment) fell in love with the other 'naturally' - which might never happen. It was very rarely that people had a Soulmate, although for some reason Soulmates are more common for mutants to have than 'normal' people.

Tyler had always been jealous of the luck majority, the normals and the freaks alike, that where born without a Soulmate, born able to fall in love with anyone, but meeting Josh, despite the pain it brought him from loving the man so much yet having Josh be unaware of what Tyler would do for him, eradicated all jealousy for normal people that he had. The man was perfect, with his red hair that seemed to glimmer in the dim artificial light and shine through coats of dust and dirt, his eyes, a mocha brown, seemed to hold galaxies within them, they seemed so full of genuine life - something Tyler had lacked since he first found out he was a mutant. His skin was flawless, despite the imperfections that littered it, and his teeth shone like they where the sun itself.

He was in love with this man, he had been for a long time, but why did he feel so hopeless?

"Hey, could you maybe not stare at me please?" Josh asked, squirming under the intense gaze of his new cellmate.

"O-oh, yes, sorry," Tyler stuttered out, blushing as he tried to hide his face by burring it into the orange jumpsuit that adorned his skinny frame. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and wished that the earth would open up and swallow him whole, he couldn't believe that he had made such a fool of himself in front of the most important person in his world. He slowly began to walk towards the side of his cell where he could talk to Brendon, hoping that Josh wouldn't try to initiate a conversation with him, yet wishing that he would. Josh's voice was angelic and Tyler couldn't get enough of it.

He didn't. Tyler was both relieved and upset at that, but he continued to back away from Josh until his back hit into the bars or his cell and he winced from the pain of the already forming bruise from the rock pressing against the metal.

"That's him, isn't it?" Brendon whispered softly, biting gently at his fingernails to calm his rising anxiety.

Tyler just nodded his head and puled at the sleeves of his jumpsuit. He had never thought of meeting Josh in person, he had thought that his Soulmate - that Josh - was in another country or something, happily oblivious to Tyler's existence, and if they did meet there would be no way that Josh would fall for a freak like him. He had told himself that - he had been told that - for as long as he could remember, but he had never considered the possibility that Josh was a freak - 'a mutant,' Tyler reminded himself, 'mutants aren't freaks,' he repeated - too.

The fact that Josh could, maybe, love Tyler back scared him. It went against everything he was taught.

"Hey, it'll be fine," Brendon said as he noticed his friends breathing getting faster and more desperate, he reached out a hand and placed it on Tyler's quivering form, "just breath, in two three four, out two three four, can you do that?"

Tyler only nodded, he didn't have enough strength to open his mouth and reply verbally, and did as Brendon said. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. He continued to breath as Brendon had asked for a few more minutes before he had his breathing under control.

"T-thank you," he stuttered out, shyly smiling up at his friend before glancing back down at the floor.

"No problem, dude. I know that meeting your Soulmate for the first time only to find out that they don't love you yet, or maybe they wont ever love you, is devastating. I stayed away from my Soulmate for moths, not wanting to deal with the pain rejection would bring, and a few years later we where engaged. It'll be fine," Brendon said, chocking up when he mentioned his own Soulmate but quickly concealing his tears with a smile and a shrug. Tyler once again felt bad for the inmate, he didn't deserve the pain of loosing a Soulmate - he had heard that it felt the same way as having your love for your other half rejected, it felt like you very essence was burning yet all you could do was scream in pain before blacking out once they had died - or the guilt that came with it.

"Yeah, it'll be okay," Tyler repeated to himself as he whispered a quiet "night" to Brendon and a wave in Josh's genera direction.

Laying down in bed, on the verge of falling into the inky darkness that held nothing but nightmares, Tyler continued to repeat what Brendon had said. It'll be okay. And just before he fell into the black void of his head, he heard a soft "Goodnight," from Josh.

Tyler fell asleep with a smile on his face, something he hadn't done in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agh! Thank you all so much for your positive comments!!! 
> 
> I hope you like the way I made Soulmates work in this story, like how only one is aware of the others existence so that if they fall in love it's more genuine and based off of personality than the fact that they are Soulmates. The darker is always the one aware of their Soulmate because it's better for them to love someone that has a bright, happy, personality than it is for someone to love a darker, more 'prone to violence/crime' personality.
> 
> Of course the lighter still feels drawn towards the darker, but it isn't in the same way as the darker is to the lighter.
> 
> ALSO do you want this all from Tyler's POV (and maybe a second fic with it from Josh's POV) or a mix of both POVs in the one fic??
> 
> Idk anyway I, as always, hope you like this chapter that I wrote instead of writing anything for my other fics.


	4. Like before

When Josh woke up he found that his cellmate was already out of his bed and talking to Brendon. He smiled a little at that, glad that the newbie was making friends - he remembered how hard it was when he had been arrested and sent to this hellhole a few months ago, until he started to talk to his old neighbour, and inmate that refused to take off his hat and was left alone for the most part by the guards. The prisoners where safer if they had friends, alliances, as guards where less likely to take their anger out on someone will allies than they where of someone that was completely alone, of course he was also glad that Brendon had made an alliance (from the handful of times Josh had tried to speak to him the inmate seemed genuinely nice) as the guards wouldn't hit him as much as they used to anymore.

But if Josh was happy for the two friends, why did he feel a spark of jealously whenever Brendon made Tyler happy?

Pushing the jealousy away, Josh walked over to the two and sat down behind Tyler, so that he didn't make Brendon uncomfortable. He let his lips part into a wide smile when he felt Brendon's nerves, he could've easily calmed him down but Josh didn't want to manipulate the anxious inmate like that, and tried to make himself seem as small and non-threatening as possible. It seemed to work, as Josh felt Brendon's anxiety drop as soon as Josh had tried to make him more comfortable, and in no time at all Brendon was back against the bars after having inched away from them as Josh had approached.

"Mornin'," he muttered, brushing he red hair out of his eyes before rubbing them tiredly.

"Morning," was the reply that came from both of the other prisoners. Tyler's was a high-pitched, somewhat happy - but in a fake way, like he was drowning in his own personal sea of depression but he was determined to continue to act like he was happy - reply, whereas Brendon's was as lifeless as his eyes, yet coated in a natural energy - as if he had physically, and emotionally given up on life yet his mind was still fighting the waves of pain that coursed through him. Josh felt the pain and sadness that radiated off of both of them, yet he continued to smile (just like he used to, before the incident that had landed him here and before he found out what he was) and listen to his friends aimless chatter. It was nice, and it reminded him of day spent talking to friends in school, before his life had been turned upside down and when things where okay, and maybe they could be again. Not in the same way, but maybe he could waste away his days in his cell talking to Tyler and Brendon about nothing.

However, the entire wing was silenced once again as a pack of guards flocked through the door - like a predators about to pounce on its prey - and prayed that they wouldn't be taken. Sighs of relief where heard as the guards walked past cells, and whimpers of fear when they stopped and looked into them and it was at times like these that Josh knew that no matter how many allies you had you could still be taken to your death. Getting taken out of your cell by these monsters was a death sentence, no one had ever walked back into the wing afterwards. Fear took over everyone in the wing, even those that had been walked passed and pity rolled off of the inmates in waved, Josh practically drowned in all of the emotions and the overwhelming amount of terror nearly caused him to pass out. He was glad that his ankle-bracelet was on, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle the emotions without it.

His heart stopped, and his breathing was far to quick, when the pack of monsters stopped outside his cell. He prayed to whatever higher power their was to let him go, to make sure he didn't get chosen. He didn't want to die. Not by the hands of the monsters that cadged him like an animal, and certainly not for their amusement.

His breath got caught in his throat as he saw one of the guards - muscular with a 'military' hair cut and cold, empty, eyes - pull out a key and unlock the wall of bars that functioned as a door. Josh had tears in his eyes as he prayed that he wouldn't die that day, that he would live to see tomorrow. And he did. The guards strolled passed him and roughly grabbed Tyler by his collar - much like they had the previous day - and dragged him outside of the cells and down the hall, practically cutting of his oxygen supply as one of them grabbed his neck and the others cuffed his ankles and wrists. The guards let go of Tyler, letting him hit the ground in a way that Josh winced in sympathy for the man, before kicking him in the stomach and ordering the man to follow them to his execution.

When the door clicked shut behind them, Josh let his tears fall as he sobbed gently into his hands. The sound returned to the wing as people started to talk about Tyler, and about how long they thought he would last, but Josh's cried seemed to be the loudest thing in the wing as they echoed through the dark, damp, corridor that held the cells of the damned.

He had only just met Tyler so why did he care so much about his safety? It didn't matter to Josh that he had known the man for a day, a day that he spent most of sleeping, and that he didn't even truly know Tyler, it tore him apart to know that the man was being led to his death at that very moment.

And maybe it couldn't be like before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Josh's POV for you. Hope you all like this chapter! 
> 
> Can any of you guess Josh's mutation (Unless ur Raf bc u already know it)


	5. Onetwothreefourfivesix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning:
> 
> Mentions of blood and vomiting.

Tyler was probably more terrified than he had ever been. More scared than when his family found out he was a freak - onetwothreefourfivesix count it, again onetwothreefourfivesix, repeat - and more scared than when they found out his Soulmate was a boy. He was terrified of where the guards where dragging him, and scared of the looks the other prisoners gave him as he was chosen from them all. He could still see the sympathy in the other inmates eyes and the fear in the eyes of his friend, he had never seen Brendon look as alive and emotional as he had when Tyler was dragged from his cell by the throat, suffocating as he was lead somewhere unknown.

The hallway outside of his wing was still damp, and it still smelt like blood and death, but it was slightly lighter and Tyler found the sudden change worse than the kick to his stomach that he had gotten earlier. He was terrified of whatever was around the corner, of wherever the guards where leading him. The smell of blood got stronger the closer he got to the end of the hallway. He almost gagged as the coppery scent his nose, stronger than ever before, yet managed to stop himself when he saw the glare a blonde guard, that looked very intimidating, was giving him. They had reached the end of the hallway and Tyler felt tears, from his extreme terror and anxiety, pooling inside his eyes. He refused to let them fall, refused to let those monsters see him cry.

Before he knew what was happening Tyler was un-cuffed and harshly thrown through the steel door at the end of the hallway, landing on the samw side as he had when he was first shoved by the guards after Josh was led to his cell, and the guards gone from sight. He sat on the floor of the room - which was slightly wet and sticky, although it was too dark to see what coated the floor - for roughly twenty minutes before a voice was heard echoing throughout the room. Tyler assumed it was from the speakers.

"Prisoner 782001, Tyler Joseph, to the Execution Room," it said in a cliché robotic voice that sent chills down Tyler's spine, before the lights started to come on. It was incredibly bright at first, and it took him a few moments to adjust to the sudden light that pierced his eyes. His eyes took in the room before him and he felt sick at what he saw, the sticky liquid that coated the floor was dried blood and the remains of people - former prisoners - where scattered across the room, some still decaying whilst for others only skeleton bones remained. It hit Tyler that this was where the scent of death was coming from, that the prison was worse than he initially thought - it was a death sentence in all the worst ways, making people inside fear for their lives and people outside to wonder what was happening to their friend, to their child, whilst the friend, the child, was nothing more than a corpse rotting behind a steel door. However he wasn't sick, and he patiently waited for the disembodied voice to speak once again.

"In this room there is a key, find it and you shall be able to unlock the bracelet making your powers useless, there is also a gun. You have a choice to make, find the gun and kill yourself or find the key and fight for your life," the voice said, the lack of emotions in the robotic voice made the whole situation creepier to him, "Good luck."

Tyler couldn't stop himself from being sick after hearing what he would have to do, and he threw up what little food was in his stomach (he hadn't eaten anything that morning, nor had anyone given the prisoners food the night before) before dry heaving for a couple of minutes. It didn't make the room smell any worse. He slowly stood up, wincing at the pain from the bruise on his side, before beginning his search for the key. Or the gun. It all depended on how hopeless this 'challenge' was, and he knew he would die either way why else would it be called The Execution Room?

The lights flickered on and off, making it hard for Tyler to see, and every direction looked the same. He thought he was heading south, but he wasn't good at directions and the lack of constant light made it hard to tell where he was going. Tyler pretended that it didn't scare him, he put on a confident façade so as to not give those watching any amusement from his fear, but inside he was petrified. His hands shook at he held them out in front of him, making sure he didn't walk into anything when the lights inevitably flickered off once again. His breathing was fast and unpredictable and Tyler had to remind himself to breath - like Brendon had told him too after he had first met Josh - as he felt himself get lightheaded. He couldn't faint, he wouldn't get out alive if he fainted, he wouldn't see Josh if he was dead.

He kept walking, even when his feet where wet from the blood that seeped through his shoes, and his legs felt like they would collapse from under him. He kept his hands cautiously out in front of his even when they started to go numb and pins and needles spread throughout his body. Fear and adrenaline fuelled him through the dark-light-dark room - it reminded him of onetwothreefourfive six and long days spent inside a closet - until he walked into a sharp object.

The light flickered on and Tyler found out that the object that he walked into was a wooden box. The lid was heavy as Tyler opened it and inside he saw a gun, a single bullet beside it, and a key.

The lights went off.

Onetwothreefourfivesix.

Something was coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the positive feedback on the last chapter, coughspookyjimishandRADP703cough.
> 
> This was my favourite chapter to write so far, as I was trying to give it a kinda creepy atmosphere... did I succeed or nah?


	6. Terrified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, tw for mentions/implied (nothing graphic) of child abuse, and blood. Stay safe frens |-/

onetwothreefourfivesix

He was petrified.

onetwothreefourfivesix

His breathing had no pattern. Tears ran down his face, he was on the verge of dropping to the floor and sobbing, but he quickly wiped them away.

onetwothreefourfivesix

He grabbed the context of the box and ran.

onetwothreefourfivesix

Hiding behind a thin, flimsy, wall, Tyler waited for the creature to find him. Being behind the wall made him feel safer, like the moster - with the loud footsteps and the stale breath - would never find him.

He was terrified of what was around the corner. 

onetwothreefourfivesix

It never worked. He always found him.

onetwothreefourfivesix

Tyler unlocked his ankle bracelet, the light flickered to red before falling into the floor, and felt a rush of power course through him. He stood on the bracelet, glad to let out his fear in a way that wouldn't draw the Monster towards him, before slipping the key into his pocket.

His breathing was to loud, to fast, as he loaded the gun. His hands shook with terror and anxiety, yet he continued to fumble with the gun until he had succeeded in loading the single bullet into it.

His hands shook as he pushed himself up of the ground - pastel purple and blue flooded his vision as he gazed at his arms, it was almost pretty in a sick, twisted sort of way and he let out a small laugh at the thought - and cautiously started walking.

He knew what he needed to do.

The sticky ground no longer bothered him, and he could hardly smell the blood over his own sweat. He heard nothing but his own heart beat - thump, thump, thump, he was coming - and he felt only the adrenaline and fear coursing through his veins as he walked towards the centre of the room.

"Come on! Come and find me!" He yelled towards an empty sky, screaming into a void of nothingness. The Monster didn't appear, it didn't answer his call. Tyler felt an odd rush of relief - darkdarkdark let me out letmeoutletmeout, he shouldn't of let his guard down - and a spike if terror at the thought of his mind making the Monster up. 

He was about to open his mouth to scream something else when a pair of glowing eyes could be seen through the darkness. A man walked out, his eyes a glowing brown and his hair a brown so dark it was practically black. There was a bruise covering half of the man's face, and Tyler recognised him instantly.

"Brendon?" he breathed out, shock evident on his face and in his voice. 

"Think again," the man said in a voice that belonged to Brendon, but it was diffrent somehow. It was distorted, as if there was a layer of static covering what he said.

The man began to change, a dark smoky substance (much like the substance that dyed his body black and his eyes a deep red) coating his face. His body started to fade, as if it was made of nothing but water and smoke before it formed once again. His eyes where still brown, and an orange jumpsuit adorned his frame, yet he was completly diffrent. 

Tyler felt a spark of pain, and sadness, spread through him when he caught sight of the bright red hair that sat on the Monsters head.

"Josh..." He said, voice hardly a whisper, as his hands started to shake and smoke began to surround him. How dare that vile thing even try to imitate someone as perfect as Josh?

His neck was a pure black, his wrists alost the same colour, and his eyes a deep red. He felt powerful and alive like that, and he wanted to kill the creature infront of him. He wanted to rip it's heart apart with his bare hands.

Clenching his fist tightly he watched as the Monster fell to the floor in pain. It let out a pathetic whimper as it felt it's heart being squeezed and suffocated. Tyler only smiled, a cruel and lifeless smile that didn't reach his eyes, at hearing the pathetic noise.

"Don't," he said, slowly walking towards the Monster that kneeled on the ground before him, "you ever try and imitate Josh again," he said, before leaning in and placing his mouth beside the Monsters ear.

"Do you understand?" he asked, his voice unaturally deep and gravely as it echoed around the empty room despite him having whispered it.

The Monster nodded frantically as Tyler released his hold on its heart. That thing didn't deserve to die by his gifts, it was to vile and disgusting for that, Tyler decided as he lifted the arm with the gun on it to the Monsters head.

It no longer looked like Josh, instead it flickered between Josh and Brendon telling him 'don't do this' and 'friend, please, you can do something better than this'. Tyler didn't listen to them, instead he placed the gun at the center of the monsters forehead and pulled the trigger.

It was dead in an instant.

onetwothreefourfivesix

The panic was setting in again, his terror fueling it, despite knowing that he had survived. Yet the bloodstained clothes reminded him too much of what it used to be like - stale breath and empty bottles, pain and darkness and never ending terror - before he had ran away. 

"Congratulations, Tyler Joseph. you have survived the Execution Room," the disembodied voice said and Tyler frowned in distaste, "you shall now be lead back to your cell."

Tyler picked at the blood on his skin and clothes before walking out of the Execution Room and towards the worried eyes of his friend. He was still shaking, the adrenaline that coursed through him whilst his life was on the line was gone. 

He felt tired, like he could sleep for a thousand years yet also on top of the world, like he could actually do something productive. It was weird. 

One of the guards punched him in the face, causing his nose to start to bleed and covering him in even more blood, whilst another guard opened the heavy door. There was a loud squeak as he managed to push it open and Tyler took a deep breath to prepare to see their reaction.

As soon as he walked into the wing all conversations stopped.

He was still terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow I never expected so much positive feedback from this fic! Thank you all so much.
> 
> I honestly think my writing is crap and often confusing, but thank you so much for reading (and liking) this! Agh. I can't express how happy it is.
> 
> And random info, I need to stop making fanart for my own fic.


	7. Shells and hurricanes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: mentioned/implied child abuse and blood.

He didn't know if it was night or day, although none really did. He didn't know anything, although none really did. All he knew was that Tyler was gone. Gonegonegone and never coming back. Josh was alone again, and Tyler wasn't there. They took him, they led him to his death. They killed him.

Josh was sad. Josh was worried. Josh was petrified.

Josh was happy. Josh was confused. Josh was apathetic.

Josh didn't know what he felt.

Every emotion that he felt passed to fast - yet way to slow - for him to identify (he wasn't even sure if the emotions he felt where his) as he spent the days that his cellmate was gone curled up against the bars to Brendon's cell, hoping (praying) that Tyler would be the exception, that Tyler would come back to the cell alive. It was like a war was being waged in his mind, and his body just wanted to surrender but his heart kept screaming at him, telling him that Tyler wasn't dead whilst his mind said the opposite. He knew it was hopeless, Tyler was probably long dead - something that Brendon kept trying to convince him was wrong. Wrongwrongwrong Tyler was alive, Tyler was fine, Tyler would come back to their cell his heart screamed at him, trying to give him false hope.

And it was wrong, and he wasn't given false hope, because the door out of the permanent hellhole he lived him opened with a squeak as the guards began to walk into the wing, dragging something behind them and leaving the door open (which resulted in a mutter of 'cant they close the goddamn door just once?' from Brendon as he irritably bit the skin around his fingernails) and revealed none other that Tyler fucking Joseph. Covered in blood, and on-edge, but alive.

Josh wasn't sad. Josh was worried. Josh was overjoyed.

Josh was happy. Josh was confused. Josh wasn't apathetic.

Josh knew exactly what he felt.

His emotions where a hurricane, tearing apart his heart and planning its crash landing because it had the be a dream. No one ever came back, so why had Tyler? But he had come back, Josh realised after the man - he looked like a shell of his former self and Josh was worried, so worried for his friend - was harshly shoved into the cell and the guards left. Josh rushed over to Tyler and started to inspect him, he wanted to know if he was hurt.

"Bring him over here," Brendon whispered, obviously as shocked about their friend being alive as Josh was. Despite the words that Brendon forced to come out of his mouth, they both knew he hadn't quite believed them.

"Why?" Josh asked, shifting slightly and frowning when Tyler didn't respond to the movement at all.

"Do you know how to set a broken nose?" Brendon countered and Josh just shook his head to say 'no' before lifting up - the far to light, when was the last time he had eaten? - man and carrying him over to Brendon. "No? Okay, well I do, I've had to do this for myself and 'Trick before, so I know what I'm doing. But you need to trust me," Brendon continued, gesturing for Josh to lean Tyler against the bars that connected the two cells. He did was he was told.

Josh anxiously tapped his fingers against each other as Brendon inspected Tyler for anymore wounds after setting his nose. It turned out that most of the blood wasn't his, which didn't comfort Josh because something had been there with Tyler - something that didn't make it out alive.

It was sometime later - Josh didn't know if it was hours or minutes or even just seconds - that they three of them sat in an odd circle formation and Josh worked up the courage to ask about what happened to the boy that was still coated in blood with dead eyes which used to have a spark of life.

"I don't want to talk about it," Tyler had replayed, his face had paled and his hands started shaking. Josh didn't drop the subject.

"Tyler you where gone for three days," he said, worried about his friend - about the fact that he only responded to questions and would never instate conversations. He reminded Josh of Brendon.

"Three days? No, never mind, Imma go to sleep. Night guys," Tyler replied, getting up and starting to walk over to his bed. Josh grabbed his arm and he flinched, Josh immediately let go.

"Let him sleep Josh, he'll tell you when he's ready," Brendon said softly, before going to make the other bed in his room. His cellmate was returning soon.

Hours past before Josh got up and walked over to his own bed for the first time since Tyler had left. It was dark, and most other inmates where already asleep by the time he fell onto the hard mattress with thoughts of Tyler swam around the depths of his mind. He once again wondered why he cared for the man that he had known for little over two days, not including the three agonizing days when he wasn't there, before shrugging the question off. Anyone (most people) would care about a boy that looked so broken, but had so much potential hidden behind brown eyes.

As he began to fall asleep, a flurry of emotions overcame him.

Josh was sad. Josh was overwhelmed. Josh was terrified.

A flurry of onetwothreefourfivesix and angryangryangry flooded his mind, waking him up from whatever sleep he almost managed to get. The memories of an angry man and cruel words, fists approaching him and blood staining the floor, of teasing kids and pastel purple coated limps, glowing eyes and the echoing sound of a gun firing, flooded his mind, memories that weren't his own but felt so real.

Josh wasn't sad. Josh wasn't overwhelmed. Josh wasn't terrified.

So who was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if this chapter is confusing or not? But like meh.
> 
> I've been listening to Young and Menace Non-stop since it came out. I really love FOB.
> 
> Also can anyone guess Josh's mutation now?
> 
>  
> 
> Again I rrly love FOB and if u rrly love FOB tell me bc,,,, it's FOB..
> 
>  
> 
> Warning: next chapter might be kinda sad bc i just had a panic attack and I'm sad so imma channel that into my writing bc it's a healthy coping mechanism.


	8. Fear -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: short vent piece sorry.
> 
> Implied/referenced child abuse once again. 
> 
> Also this is like 600 words but it isn't a filler I just couldn't find the energy to wrote anymore of this chapter tbh.

Fear -

Tyler was afraid. He knew it was silly, that he had no reason to be afraid because he wasn't there anymore. He was out of the house with the stale smell and angry words and he was out of the room with the Brendon-Josh-Creature and the terror.

But he was still afraid, even as he heard Josh walk to his bed, the fear kept him up and clawed at his brain. The prison was no longer dark, instead it was pastel purples and blues and bloodstains on the floor. It was the drip-drip of water coming from the kitchen sink as his mother forgot to turn it off fully, and his father taking that out on him.

But that faded, and it was dark again. But not the darkness of a cell, nor the darkness of his room whilst he hid from the drunken monster, instead it was the darkness of The Room. With glowing eyes peering at him from behind the bars - but the bars weren't there and it was a wall, or was it a wardrobe? Tyler couldn't tell anymore - and the echo of a gunshot. The thump of a body, Josh's body except it wasn't Josh and suddenly it was Him.

"Freak," He spat at him, and Tyler shut his eyes tightly. Onetwothreefourfivesix He repeated mentally, He wasn't real. He wasn't there.

But He was, and He was angryangryangry and Tyler was afraid. A fist came towards his face, and Tyler awaited the impact that never came because the bars of the cells returned. The glowing eyes where just the eyes of someone in the cell across from him, with normal eyes, someone else that was awake.

"Melanie, but most call me Crybaby," the girl - she couldn't be older than 19, and Tyler wondered why she was here - said around a lolly that seemed to be glued into her mouth. She walked towards the bars and leaned against them.

"Tyler Joseph... people call me Tyler," he said, mentally cursing at himself for sounding so stupid yet applauding himself for even talking at all. He was conflicted.

"Well, Tyler... nice to talk to the legend in person," She continued to suck on the lolly and Tyler wondered how she even managed to get it.

"Legend?" he asked instead of vocalising his thoughts and shifted from foot to foot.

"Yeah! Of course, you survived being led outta here, no one's ever done that!" She cried in shock at his question, as of he had heard people muttering about him. He hadn't.

"Isn't Brendon's roommate coming back after being led out?" he questioned instead, still trying to shake off his dream, fiddling with the sleeves of his bloodstained clothes.

"Oh no, silly. Patrick got transfered to another wing because he attacked one of the guards when they hurt his soulmate. He's getting moved back here because they realised this is the wing woth the most security," Melanie said, talking to him like he was an idiot. At least she had taken that godforasken lolly out of her mouth to do so.

"Oh," he said, he felt stupid. Why did he always ask such stupid questions?

"Well, I'm going to sleep. You should to, okay?" She said, strolling over to her bed.

"Okay," he breathed out before going back to bed.

The next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by Josh, who looked exited about something. There where bars surrounding him and Tyler felt relief flood his bones, he wasn't in The Room.

"Patrick's coming back in a few hours, with Pete, so they moved another bed into Brendon's cell! I just wanted you to kknow about the sudden announcement," Josh said, almost too fast for Tyler to understand. He smiled at Josh, happy about his excitement for the two new editions to their prison-family, and he almost felt like he was back to normal.

\- Will lose.


	9. New inmates

Tyler was still slightly pissed at being awoken by Josh, just to be told that another person was moving in to the cell with Brendon. But, after seeing the two new inmates, it was hard to stay mad at anything. Tyler would trust someone that could stay mad at something after seeing Pete Wentz or Patrick Stump for even a second.

Patrick Stump was not at all what he expected. The man was wearing a red cardigan (Tyler had no idea how he managed to get one, but he didn't question it) and a fedora (again, Tyler didn't question it). Tyler just didn't see a man that attacked someone - especially not a guard - in the sweet, innocent, smile that graced Patrick's face. His orange jumpsuit was tired around his waist so that he could wear his cardigan.

Pete, however, was what he expected Patrick to be. He wasn't overly muscular, yet he wasn't weak, and he had tattoos on his arms. The orange prison suit was, also, tied around his waist, leaving him in a dirty white vest-like-T-shirt and allowing him to see all of the tattoos on his arms.

The two made an odd sight, they whee polar opposites yet so alike.

Their relationship wasn't romantic, yet it seems of have one of the strongest bonds that Tyler had ever seen. Patrick obviously cared for Pete, and Pete for Patrick in a way that only Soulmates can achieve. They where Soulmates though, so their bond made sense, that was something that Tyler could just tell as he saw the two sitting together on Petes bed with their hands linked together.

It was adorable. But now Tyler had to face talking to the two of them as they where finnaly settled in. Something that he wasn't at all prepared for, and wished he didn't have to do.

"Josh, bring Tyler over here so we can introduce everyone!" Brendon yelled, looking happier than Tyler had ever seen him. That was the reason why he couldn't say no to going over and talking to the two new members of his ever growing family.

"Hi, I'm Tyler," he said, rubbing his feet against one another awkwardly. He wished he didn't sound so small, so weak.

"H-hi, I'm Patrick," he said, nervously pulling the sleeves of his cardigan over his hands and looking down at his and Petes interlaced hands.

"I'm Pete," Patrick's other half said, nudging Patrick and giving him a small smile, but one that carried so much meaning, of encouragent to Patrick. It seemed to make Patrick less on-edge, which Tyler was amazed at. How does someone manage to calm someone else down with only a smile?

"Nice to see you guys again!" Josh yelled, and Tyler flinched at the change in volume. He saw Patrick do the same, and vrefily wondered why the man reacted the same way as he did. Instead he just smiled at the man, hoping that he conveyed everything he meant to. That they where safe and there was nothing to worry about.

Judging by the smile that graced Patrick's face in return, he did a pretty good job.

"You too, Josh," Pete said, getting up and going to half hug his friend through the bars. It was awkward, due to the bars separating them, but so full of emotions that it seemed anything but. Tyler was slightly jealous, why couldn't he have a friendship as raw and caring as the one between Josh and Pete?

Maybe he could end up having one though, he though as he walked towards the bars and joined in on Brendon's exited word-vomit to Patrick. Not long after that and Josh and Pete joined the three of them. They all laughed at Brendon's quick speech, he sounded almost drunk, whilst trying to explain how Pete and Patrick met. Tyler wouldn't believe that he wasn't drunk, if it weren't for the fact that the five of them where in prison and weren't allowed alcohol.

"It was the summer of 2001," Brendon said, before animatedly telling the story.

It was hilarious, and Tyler found himself crying from laughter before the story was even finished. It involved two other guys - Andy and Joe - but they where 'normal' and thus weren't sent to the hellhole that Pete and Patrick - and Brendon, Mel and Josh - lived in and instead they where sent to a rehabilitation center for 'normals'.

The Justice system - of you could even call it justice - was fucked up as it reflected societies veiws. And society thought that anything that wasn't 'normal' or the 'default' was bad and should be punished. Which was why there where criminals on the streets just because they had the money to bail out if rehabilitation, and because they weren't 'freaks' or 'diffrent' in anyway. It sucked, society sucked, and the prison sucked.

But maybe, their lives in the Hellhole didn't have to be terrible and tainted by scoicities veiws on them. Maybe they could resist just by being themselves, by being happy.

Self-expression was the best form of protest after all.

Even if they couldn't, looking around at the faces of his family, Tyler was more than willing to try.

Of course it wouldn't be perfect, the guards would still beat inmates and they would starve and be in pain. But they would have each other, and that's all that mattered, right?

Later that night, Tyler figured out the answer as Josh held his hand and led them both to their own beds. His thumb brushed against Tyler's hand as he let go, as if silently willing the nightmares that Wrexham sure to come away, and walking over to his own uncomfortable bed. Tyler swore he saw Josh smiled at him before the red-headed turned around and fell asleep and butterfly's fluttered in his stomach and his heart filled with joy.

As long as Tyler had Josh he could be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Patrick Stump so much!!!
> 
> W0w.


	10. I'm sorry

It was dark like it usually was at night, yet it seemed particularly unbearable that night as the soft snores that echoed in the wing seemed louder, angrier and a lot more dangerous. It made his skin crawl and his chest ache in the fear he was far too familiar with. Everything just seemed that much scarier and Tyler didn't know why, or if he could lessen the terror that flowed through his veins even more than his own blood did.

Tyler couldn't sleep that night, terrors lurking just around the corner and waiting to snatch him into a nightmare and the scent of the wing (death, decay, and people rotting in The Room), but luckily Patrick couldn't either. Or unluckily, and Tyler felt terrible for being relieved that he wasn't going to spend the night fighting his fear alone, because it meant something was keeping Patrick up.

He didn't think about it too much as he walked over the man - now cardigan and fedora less - and sat down, legs in a basket, and sleepily smiled at him. A minute after that Patrick joined him, the bars being the only thing that separated the two. Soft breathing from the inmates in the wing was the only thing that could be heard as the two sat in comfortable silence. It was almost unbearably cold, yet strangely warm, and Tyler was thankful when Patrick silently offered him a cardigan.

"Is he your Soulmate?" Patrick asks softly, motioning to Josh's sleeping body before his eyes (still so warm and accepting despite being so tiered and afraid, and Tyler wondered how that was possible), settled on staring at a spot just above Tyler's eyes. Tyler was glad the man didn't make eye contact, as the blush that creped up his face surely would've been worse if he had, and unable to form words, Tyler just nodded in reply to the question.

"Couldn't sleep?" Tyler asked, although the answer was fairly obvious, he honestly just wanted to steer the conversation away from Josh. Away from the fact that he didn't seem to return Tyler's feelings.

"Nope, probably for the same reason as you," Patrick replied, anxiously glancing around the cells as if looking for anything dangerous. He seemed more on-edge than he had when talking about (or he had asked about) Josh, and Tyler wondered why.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Tyler asked, despite knowing that they where both awake for the same reason. He could tell in the way Patrick held himself, subconsciously making himself smaller both to reflect what he had probably been told and to protect himself in case someone attacked. He saw it in the full-body flinches that Patrick did when startled or scared, and the darting looks and fear of being touched.

He recognised the signs because he had them himself.

"Memories," Patrick said almost instantly, further confirming Tyler's suspicions. 'Speak only when spoken to' was a rule in his house, and he would bet his life savings that it was in Patrick's house too, it often resulted in long bursts of not speaking and hurried, instant, answers when asked something.

"Wanna talk about them?" Tyler asked again, despite knowing the answer already. 'No, I don't want to talk about my memories of the screaming, and the blood on the floor, that was my childhood' was surely what Patrick was thinking.

"Not thank you," he said instead and brushed his hair from his eyes before speaking again, "I can help you sleep, if you want."

"How?" Tyler asked, instead of screaming out the 'yes' that he wanted to. Tyler wanted nothing more than a night of sleep that wasn't played by his father's face or the Monster from The Room.

"It's, uh, part of my mutation, the only good part about it," he says angrily, and Tyler knows he's gating himself because the other part of his mutation probably hurts people. Tyler understood how he felt, his 'gift' could only be used for bad.

"What is your mutation?" Tyler asked, because he was curious and because listening to Patrick talk was incredibly calming.

"I can make people feel so safe and relaxed around me that they just fall asleep," Patrick said, taking a deep breath before continuing, "but soon it flipped completely and I could make people feel so scared, I could make them see their worse than nightmares. And... and I could make them real."

Patrick sounded so sad, so empty, when describing his mutation that it made Tyler's heart ache and a question form in his mind. "Can you see your own worst nightmare?"

"All the time," Patrick said, looking slightly behind Tyler and he knew instantaneously that he was looking at the physical embodiment of his worst feat, "but Pete normally makes it better."

"Oh," Tyler said, because what could he saw to something like that? Tyler couldn't handle his fears at night, he had no idea how Patrick managed it constantly.

"So, sleep?" Patrick asked, glowing slightly as he emitted a golden glow and surrounded the two.

"One more question, how can you still use your powers?" Tyler asked, curious.

"I can't really, not the dark ones. But the Guards find this one useful and make sure I can use it... it's the same reason I can always see Them," Patrick explained, glowing a little brighter as Tyler's eyelids got heavier.

As Tyler slipped of into a peaceful slumber, he couldn't help but feel nauseated at the constant torture Patrick was put through.

Tyler dreamt of fields of flowers and rushing rivers. He dreamt they where all - Brendon, Josh, Pete, Patrick and Melanie - where outside the prison and having fun. He dreamt that they where all happy. The flowers where all bright and colourful, nothing like the prison, and they made the field smell sweet. Nothing like the blood, death, and decay that haunted him during the day.

His dream switched and suddenly he was with Josh, the two of them playing music together. Both of them happy, and in love and prober Soulmates.

When he woke up, he wasn't tired and it was probably the best nights sleep he had ever had. Everyone else was already up, but he walked over to Patrick as he saw the man wave at him.

He almost thought he dreamed the "I'm sorry," that snuck past Patricks lips and was whispered into the air of the night, that he had heard just before slipping into his peaceful slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> W0w. Why is Patrick sorry? Why am I late updating? 
> 
> Who knows?
> 
> I do. 
> 
> ALSO DOES ANYONE WANT A CHAPTER FROM SOMEONE ELSE'S POV??
> 
> Like Brendon or Patrick or Pete???


	11. The Confession

The wing was filled with the usual sounds of people snoring, and a few talking in their sleep. the sounds of the three - working - lights gently buzzing. A groan came from one of the cells as a certain inmate woke up.

He woke up to the usual dull lighting in the cell-block, yet without the usual rush of panic and fear radiating off of someone in the wing. Without feeling as if he was the one the panic was coming from, despite knowing that he wasn't scared nor panicked in the slightest. It was nice, relaxing, to be able to wake up calmly and not in a fit of panic that wasn't his own.

Looking around, Josh realised that most people where still asleep - the only exception being Patrick - so he casually got out of his bed and walked over to the other man.

"Mornin'," he slurred out sleepily before rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Good morning," Patrick replied, looking as if he wanted to ask Josh something. His hands where pulling at the sleeves of his orange jumpsuit. He sounded far to awake for whatever ungodly hour it was, and that combined with the bags under his eyes, told Josh he hadn't slept.

"What's on your mind?" Josh asked with a gentle voice, he didn't want to startle the anxious man.

"It's just," Patrick paused for breath and stopped fiddling with his sleeve, "do you like Tyler?" he blurt out, and his face showed he regretted it as soon as the question was voiced.

Josh didn't know the answer; he didn't know Tyler that well after all. Yet Josh found himself happier whenever Tyler was around, and worried about the man when ever he felt the slightest spike of fear from Tyler. Tyler made him feel safer and happy, which (he supposed) was what love was.

"Yes," he breathed out, "Yes I think I do." A blush graced Josh's skin, and he felt his heart squeeze tightly (although not in a bad way, it was overwhelmingly good) after admitting the feelings he had first Tyler.

"Good. You should talk to him about it, something tells me he likes you too," Patrick said, smiling at the blushing man infront of him, before walking over the Pete and carefully laying down beside him.

"I'll talk to him about it if you talk to Pete about having trouble sleeping again," Josh said, getting no sarcastic comment or a roll of Patrick's eyes. He expected that, it was the same everything he had pointed out the man's sleeping habits (or lack thereof) before he was moved a fee months ago.

 

Josh took Patrick's words to heart. The sweet man was hardly wrong and never offered advice without being certain that it would actually help. So, if Patrick told him that Tyler felt the same way he would try his hardest to talk to him about it.

It was hours later that he got the opertunity too as Tyler was surprisingly the last to wake up. Josh was glad that the man was getting enough sleep, he knew about the nightmares that would keep Tyler from the rest he needed.

"Mornin' Jishwa," Tyler mumbled sleepily as he covered his mouth and yawned.

"Jishwa?" Josh asked before chuckling, it was a cute nickname but now he had to figure one out for Tyler.

"Shud'p," Tyler slurred, gently 'slapping' (it was honestly hardly a tap) his arms.

"Okay Tyjo, but I really need to talk to you? Please?" Josh had no idea why he was so nervous, he was practically shaking where he stood and stuttering through his sentences.

"Okay?" Tyler asked, and Josh could feel the anxiety rolling off Tyler in waves. He felt bad about being the one to make Tyler feel so anxious, but he also related. Josh, himself, was feeling anxious enough that he hoped the ground would sallow him whole.

Except he also didn't because then he'd never see Tyler Joseph again.

"Or, well, not really talk," Josh said, slowly leaning in closer and closer to Tyler, before looking at his lips and gently whispering, "Can I?"

Tyler nodded his head, and their lips met. It wasn't like in movies, time didn't slow down or speed up and everything felt like it normally did yet somehow alot more magical. Josh could kiss Tyler forever a day never grow tired. His lips where soft, and had responded to the kiss instantly.

He could feel Tyler's pure love for him, it overpowered any other emotion around him and made Josh long to feel it all the time. He wished Tyler could feel the unparalleled love that Josh held for him. But he couldn't, the ankle-bracelet kept that from being possible. Yet Josh couldn't find it within himself to be angry when he was kissing Tyler.

They finnaly broke apart from each other, panting from lack of oxygen and smiling from the blissful (and addictive) happiness that Josh had felt when kissing Tyler.

Smiling slightly at Tyler, he linked their fingers together.

"What... what are we?" Tyler asked gently, his voice quivering as if he was afraid of rejection and it made Josh's heart ache for the man infront of him.

"I don't know," Josh started to say before pulling Tyler in for another kiss, "Tyler Joseph, will you be my boyfriend?" Josh asked, touching his forehead against Tyler's.

"Robert," Tyler said laughing, "It's: Tyler Robert Joseph."

"Oh, well then, Tyler Robert Joseph will you be my boyfriend?" He asked again, emphasising the 'Robert' in the name.

"Yes! Yes, I will be your boyfriend Joshua William Dun," Tyler said with a smile and a small giggle.

Josh was overjoyed, Tyler had said yes. Him and Tyler where a thing! He couldn't believe his luck, words failed him as he just kissed the brunet again.

"Wait... how did you know my middle name?" Josh asked in confusion after the two had stopped kissing.

"Brendon."

Of course it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, would you guys not-hate a chapter from Patrick's (and/or) Petes POV??
> 
> Or I could make this a series and make another fic/story telling this from Patrick's (and/or?) Petes POV???
> 
> Which one would you guys prefer???
> 
>    
> //I've started on the whole Patrick/Pete POV other book already, and it'll start from when they meet until the end of this one, so if you want me to upload it pls comment!!//
> 
> //edit 2: THIS IS NOW A SERIES. YEY. Do you guys want that uploaded today or nah? Because it would give insight on wat Patrick's past is like and stuff. Also Andy and Joe are in it (bc i love them so much w0w)


	12. Confrontations of best (worst) kept secrets

It was mid afternoon, at least that's what Josh thought. They had already been given lunch, so it couldn't be earlier than twelve. Tyler say chewing on his nails anxiously and glancing around the cells, he had just woken up from - what Josh assumed was - a nightmare. The familiar fear and anxiety that came from his friend made his heart ache, along woth the dull onetwothreefourfivesix that pounded against the walls of his mind.

"You're always so panicky, you radiate anxiety that I can feel through the ankle-bracelet. Is that because of what happened those three days?" Josh asked. He was worried about his boyfriend, worried about how the man always seemed on-edge and scared. He wanted to know what was wrong, he needed to know if his boyfriend was okay.

Josh knew, deep down, that he wasn't.

"Yes." The answer was short, simple, and to the point yet it managed to tear Josh's heart apart. There was so much fear and sadness in Tyler's voice.

"Are you ready to talk about what happened yet?" He inquired, hoping that Tyler would say yes because then he had a chance at helping his boyfriend through it.

"Yes." Short. Simple. Another tear on Josh's heart.

They sat in their cell, as far away from the others as possible. It was quiet, it was comfortable and it was everything Tyler could want. Unfortunately, he L was mentally screaming at himself for agreeing to tell Josh what had happened.

He wasn't ready, but he never would be and he decided that Josh ought to know. He couldn't keep a secret that big from his Soulmate. Taking a deep breath he began to explain the horrors that he felt during those three days. He talked about the Monster, about the flashbacks to his childhood, about the scent of death that still plagued him.

And Josh listened. He never interrupted, except to ask if Tyler wanted to continue when the brunet was ready to break down crying. Tyler was garetful, he wouldn't be able to handle the interruptions, and pushed on even through his tears.

He told Josh about the nightmares, about meeting Melanie and the constant feeling of panic that surrounded him. He spoke about the late night spent talking with Patrick, until the other man had put him to sleep, and how that was one of the only peaceful nights he had had since being taken to The Room.

He told Josh everything. And by the end of it, after Tyler had plucked his heart out and put it on his sleeve, they where both crying. Yet, Tyler felt calm as Josh projected happiness and love around the pair. He felt content sitting in Josh's arms after pouring his soul out.

He felt like everything would be okay, despite knowing that having Josh by his side wouldn't just solve all his problems.

"I'm sorry," Josh muttered into Tyler's hair as he tried to stop the salty tears from pouring from his eyes.

"For what?" Tyler asked, blinking up at his in confusion.

"For not noticing sooner," Josh said, his voice sad and choked by tears, as he rolled his shoulders and leaned his head against Tyler's.

"It isn't your fault, you didn't know because I didn't tell you," Tyler said, his voice muted by the fact that his face was buried into Josh's neck.

Josh didn't reply, he simply hummed in recognition before running his fingers through Tyler's hair. Tyler fell asleep in Josh's arms, and Josh gently laid him on the bed and kissed his forehead before going to seek advice.

"Pete?" Josh called softly, not wanting to wake up the finally peaceful man in his bed.

"Yeah?" Pete asked walking over from where he was sitting on the floor with Patrick.

"How... how can I help Tyler? He... I just... please?" Josh asked, unable to form coherent sentences but luckily Pete understood what he was trying to say.

"I don't know how to help Tyler specifically, but, like, make sure he knows you're there for him. I would avoide shouting and talking with your hands, body language is important and you should try to always seem relaxed. That's all I can really say, along with the basic 'always ask before making physical contact' rule," Pete said, counting off the advice on his fingers.

Josh's shoulders sagged from the tension, and anxiety, being (somewhat) released. He could do that.

"It's obviously diffrent for us because it was diffrent Patrick and Tyler," Pete started to say, "I couldn't even be in the same room as Patrick without announcing my presence for the first week or so after we met. But Tyler is perfectly comfortable around you."

"Thanks dude," Josh said, he was incredibly grateful for Petes advice and hoped that he wouldn't screw things up. Tyler didn't deserve to have his life screwed up anymore, and Josh wanted to make sure that life didn't decide to fuck his soulmate over.

"No problem," Pete said, walking over to where Patrick had finnaly managed to fall asleep and taking the other man's hat off.

Josh felt like his heart just might fall apart due to the suffering that Tyler had been through. The man didn't deserve it, no one did but Tyler even less. Tyler was the purist person he had ever met - except maybe Patrick - and he certainly did not deserve the life of abuse that he had been delt.

Josh vowed to change the shitty hand that Tyler held close to his chest for the better.

Josh fell asleep beside Tyler, knowing that going to sleep so early would fuck up his sleeping schedule. He didn't care, not when Tyler visibly relaxed after sensing Josh behind him.

They both had peaceful dreams of a field of Sweet Williams and the two of them dancing through it, the sun shining on them and the sky a beautiful pastel blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo. Should I upload the Patrick-Pete POV whilst writing this or after?
> 
> Thanks again for reading this!!


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